A four-star Air Force General warned his command to prepare for war with China by 2025. He recommends the 50,000 service members under him get some target practice, train harder, and get their legal affairs in order, which means updating their wills and estate planning documents in case they die in battle.
That’s good advice for all of us, regardless of whether we are in the military. Not only is war is breaking out all over the world, violence right here at home is rising. Your chance of death by a random act of violence is probably higher today than it has been for decades.
These days, the police in Memphis will apparently drag you out of your car, throw you to the ground, and beat you, all for a simple traffic stop that should probably have been resolved with a ticket. Old men will gun you down at work or when you are out enjoying yourself. Kids not old enough to own gun shoot at people they deem their enemies and end up killing babies in their bedrooms. Six-year-olds will shoot their teachers. Mentally ill people will push random commuters onto subway tracks or open fire in “gun free” zones. Criminals will follow you home from a night out and rob you. Others will attack while you are filling up your car at a gas station.
Problems like these are likely to have a greater impact on you than raising tensions in Israel or more Western weapons being sent to Ukraine. Still, you have to be prepared for all of the above.
Hate and Anger
There seems to be an awful lot of “us versus them” going on in the world and in our cities and neighborhoods. People are quick to anger, even cops who are supposedly trained to de-escalate a situation. Maybe it’s the false narratives parroted on social media fanning the flames. Perhaps in the socialists chipping away at American Values, destroying the country from the inside like termites eating away at a house.
I think a big factor is economic pressure is adding stress to everyone’s lives.
Five years ago, employment was at record levels for every minority group in the country. Grocery prices were stable. Gasoline was relatively inexpensive. The stock market was going up, as were housing prices, making people feel wealthy. Even those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder felt like things were going their way. People didn’t hesitate to spend money, and they were comfortable dining out or going on vacation.
The rising cost of groceries, gasoline, rents, cars, utilities, dining out, and just about every other commodity killed that good mood. Now, no one except the top 5 percent feel comfortable spending money. Mom is trying to stretch her grocery dollars, Dad is settling for cheaper beer, and both are hoping they keep their jobs. Car repairs have gotten more expensive and take longer, and even do-it-yourself home improvement projects have gotten expensive. (Have you seen the cost of a gallon of paint?)
Government Gone Bad
I blame many of the problems we have today on the government. Our elected leaders are terrible role models. Congress forces things through that deserve deliberate consideration. Governors laugh at the Supreme Court rulings and violate their oath of office by encouraging and signing legislation that is blatantly against the constitution and counter to the Court’s rulings.
Our Federal agencies are no better. The FBI has become untrustworthy and very political. We also live in an era where the ATF will visit you at home to try to confiscate gun parts you legally purchased after they have declared them illegal simply because they changed their minds.
Budget spending is out of control as the president pushes expensive and unworkable green energy plans while cutting beneficial programs like the Keystone Pipeline.
Clearly, senior members of both the congressional and executive branch of the government no longer are adhering to the rules laid out by the constitution. If they are not adhering to the rule of law, why should we expect the people to do so?
We are on our Own
Regardless of whether the threat lies in Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, Washington, your state capitol, or your local city hall, you are on your own. But then, we always have been on our own. Any appearance to the contrary was just that, an appearance. When you come right down to it, each one of us needs to be ready and able to go it alone. That’s part of what makes us survivalists.
We all know when seconds count, the police are minutes away, so you have to be ready to protect yourself.
We all expect any money we make will have a large portion confiscated by the government via taxation or inflated away so it becomes valueless.
If you get hit by a job loss, unemployment payments will be too little and too fleeting, so you need to have an alternate way to earn, possibly under the table. Just watch out for those 87,000 pesky new IRS agents.
If your kid is the brightest in their class, don’t expect their teacher to let them excel. No, that makes the other kids look bad. The teacher will team them with the slowest kids to boost their grades. You’ll have to look into an expensive private school or home school them so they can reach their potential.
If the nukes get launched, the politicians and generals are going to look out for themselves first. You need to have your own survival plan.
So train harder, get some target practice, make sure you have your legal affairs in order, and prepare for the worst. Whether or not we have until 2025, we need to be ready to go it alone.
